Green tracer ammo? Really!

[BB57]

Tracers come in a rainbow of colors depending on nationality and purpose. During WWII, the Germans favored a gold (actually yellow) tracer. The WWII American M21 .50 BMG round had a brilliant white tracer which was visible by its target, and was commonly called a Headlight tracer. It was intended to terrorize German and Japanese fighter pilots. .38 Special red tracer ammo was issued to US naval flight crews for signaling purposes, and .38 Special tracer bullets in several other colors were under development near the end of the war, but were never made in any quantity or issued. I have read about infrared tracers visible only by using night vision goggles. I also remember reading about tracer bullets which aren’t actually tracers that burn but instead have discs of highly visible material on their bases which can be seen by the shooter. I don’t know anything more about those.

I was shooting my M1 carbine with hand loaded 90 gr short jacket soft point bullets with a rising sun behind me. I got a wonderful tracer effect with the sun illuminating the bright copper flat bases on the new bullets. I transitioned to some plates at 200 and 300 yards just to see it longer and enjoy the arc.

A range officer quickly showed up to stop the “tracer” firing, and I had to explain to him what was actually happening.

 

[martyd]

Yes they are pretty to shoot at night.
At this time in my life I do not see any practical need for tracer ammo.

I am concerned about fires being started, especially in Arizona.

When I was 14 I had 22LR Tracers and set a corner fence post on fire.

You have no idea what you have hit 1/4 mile away when shooting outdoors.

 

[Borderboss]

Would any public range, indoor or outdoor, let you shoot tracer ammo? I'm not aware of any around here.

 

[JJEH]

Man... makes me think back to one of the field exercises I went to... in Muensingen early 2000. In the winter. I hated it but the shooting range always brought a smile to my face.... pop up targets... out to 600m.

We had 5 rifle positions and one MG3 machine gun, mounted on a UNIMOG. At night we loaded 1 tracer to 2 regular FMJ.... that was great. And before I had a smartphone....

 

[Greyman50]

We made “ fireworks” with 50 Cal. tracers and a little bit of C-4. Marin the ARVN did’t like it but we enjoyed the show. Amazing what GI’s do for fun.

 

[biku324]

Ammo INC. from Az is now selling ammo with a green trace element. Nice, just what many of us want or don’t want to see. BTW, one had be in a certain place to see this..

Certain placeS. Allah hu Akbar!

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Would any public range, indoor or outdoor, let you shoot tracer ammo? I'm not aware of any around here.

I don't know of any near me either. (Northeast PA)

 

[Greyman50]

Doubt Any range would allow tracers. We used to shoot just about any weapon at Camp Butner N.C. but they said absolutely NO tracer or 50 Cal., either Barretts or M-2’s. Development were “ encroaching” the impact area which brings up many stories of UXO.